I bought GTA 4 on day 1 and I only played it for a week before losing interest. The graphics were nice, the gameplay was a decent upgrade from the previous games in the series, and the story was top notch. Suprisingly I lost my interest way too soon and I can only wonder why.

More than a year before GTA 4 was released I played a game called Saint's Row, which I ended up playing for hours on end. I especially enjoyed the Pimp (pimp-cane shotgun? yes!!), Insurance Fraud, and Hitman side-missions. You also had a stock of cars in your garage that you could fully customize. I also enjoyed how the main story was both serious and over the top. I specifically remember playing Saint's Row thinking to myself how much better GTA4 would be. I mean after GTA: San Andreas who wouldn't expect perfection in the next iteration? Once GTA4 was release however, I was amazed to see how unexciting the game turned out to be.

Gamers today expect an evolution in what we've experienced before. With Mercenaries 2 we see full on co-op in addition to explosive (quite literally) graphics, and entertaining gameplay. I recently saw a co-op video where one player gained control of a helicopter. They picked a friend up who was driving a tank and they proceeded to wreck shop on the world as an unthinkable and unstoppable helicopter-tank combo. I mean how freakin' awesome is that? That's advancing the sandbox genre we've all come to know and love.

Saint's Row 2 on the other hand looks to provide an overly comedic and entertaining sandbox experience. Throwing people off of rooftops? Check. Spraying a septic tank over the population and property? Check. Underground cage fighting (ala UFC) side-missions? Check. You have the ability to completely customize your experience too. You can upgrade your pad and your clothes to your hearts content. However, it's not in the boring way that GTA4 offered. You can dress your character in rather silly attire such as crocodile heads, hotdog suits, and various other things of that nature. You can also dress them in regular attire if that's your style, but you're not as limited as you were in GTA4.

Ultimately, I wonder if GTA will be king for very long. Mercenaries 2 and Saint's Row 2 seem to offer both increasingly entertaining and different gameplay experiences that eclipse the GTA series. With Mercenaries 2 coming out at the end of this month and Saint's Row releasing in the beginning of October it'll be interesting to see how the gaming community feels about them when compared to the popular GTA series.